Fewer farmers but larger farms

Tuesday 25 September 2012

The number of farmers in the Netherlands, both agricultural and horticultural, continued to fall at a rate of five per day in 2011.

In april 2011 there were 70,390 farmers in business. By April this year the number had dropped to 68,500, according to figures from central statistics office CBS.

The main cause is the increasing size of individual farms, says the CBS. The number of large farms grew 13% in the past 12 years to 8,700. In the same period, the number of small and medium-sized farms fell 40% to 40,000.

The CBS defines a large farm as one with turnover of at least €500,000.

© DutchNews.nl